Oh, the pride we claim as a nation of independent, courageous and freedom loving souls ...

How does the image of a nation of shorn sheep strike you?

... The loss of privacy is entirely one-way. Government and corporate authorities have destroyed most vestiges of privacy for you, while ensuring that they have more and more for themselves. The extent to which you're monitored grows in direct proportion to the secrecy with which they operate. Sir Francis Bacon's now platitudinous observation that "knowledge itself is power" is as true as ever. That's why this severe and always-growing imbalance is so dangerous, even to those who are otherwise content to have themselves subjected to constant monitoring.

McClatchy and Steven Thomma are at it again ...

Clowns like Thomma now want us to believe that even though Obama won, he didn't, you see, really, really win, like in WIN. Evidently these mindless robots believe that only Thugs WIN, even when they cheat [specially when they cheat].

If you are willing to believe these corporate controlled clowns [that McClatchy has been giving much space to since Obama's WIN then you will believe that in winning Democrats actually lose and should follow the direction of these overpaid corporate controlled clowns.

Barack Obama didn't get all the way there Tuesday — not yet anyway.

He won the presidency, to be sure, in a solid victory that also saw his Democratic Party add to its majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

However, he fell short ...

Oh gee, he just got elected to be President of the United States of America, still the most powerful nation in the world even after White House resident Bush the Destroyer, with full corporate clown approval, spent 8 years attempting to tear the country apart brick by brick.

He just got elected to be President of the United States of America but he didn't really win and he better not do what the electorate expected when they voted for him. Oh, no, instead he should believe that he didn't really win and he should follow in the footsteps of the most hated White House resident in US history, George W. Bush, President of the Corporate States of America.

Here's another gem from the McClatchy/Thomma article: "The test for Obama, then, will be whether he can increase his support among his base while making inroads into those who are still suspicious of him if not hostile ...". Wonder if Thomma was similarly worried about Bush's lack of support with the populace. Probably not. After all, the corporate backed hacks all backed whatever Bush did. That was enough. Now their job is to get an Obama administration to toe the line to their corporate drum beat.

Democrats, specially in Congress, have not been very quick to understand that catering to the Corporate powers at the expense of the populace makes them very, very unpopular with the voters. It's actually a betrayal of the voters and of their oath of office. I hope Obama understands this.

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Today's QUOTES: ... Those who defend or legitimize indecent policies with civility are still indecent. --Various matters by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, salon.com

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From the offspring of Ma Bell ...

Verizon offers 'My Verizon' members the amazing ability to "keep a copy of your saved phone numbers on a secure website without a monthly fee so they're available if you lose or upgrade your phone."

Please be aware that that free service from the company that spies on you and shares your information with the government [unConstitutionally and without warrant], information that is ultimately shared with other non-governmental and unregulated organizations is offering you a special service to share that information with you also. And all that sharing is worth $1.99 per month (per month!) but they will just give it away because, you, the spied upon, are just so special.

Gall, thy name is Republican Business Models.

Silence so far ...

I keep reading the following suggestion, various places, round about:

If Senator Obama truly wanted to prove himself as a leader and strongly rebuke the past 8 years of privacy abuse and lawlessness, he would use his standing as presumptive nominee to rally Democrats (and some honest Republicans) to propose a new bill that closes any real “intelligence gaps,” but demands that the telecoms defend their conduct in a court of law to determine whether or not they broke the law. That shouldn’t be a controversial proposition. The telecoms can’t break the law just because the President told them they could.

Though I think Obama will be better than McCain, I see nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that indicates that Obama will not be a corporate-control-of-America president.

I think Democrats who don't want McCain, or any current Republican, near the White House will just finally keep quiet. So much for fighting for a better world ...

Can the Democrats in Congress explain why ...

... given

• that they are in the majority, particularly in the House,
• that they have tremendous public support,
  
• that they are likely to pick up an even greater majority in the 2008 election, particularly in the House,

the Democrats in the House are still determined to give a criminal and Constitution-breaking president and traitorous Republican Party a victory by passing Republican legislation retroactively forgiving the law breaking telecoms for their crimes against American citizens.

Steny Hoyer and Jay Rockefeller demonstrated their corruption last month. This month it's House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes who's corruption is showing.

Even as Americans are working to take our country back, these elected Democrats are conspiring with criminal and traitorous Republicans to further undermine our country.

Too many Democrats want to work for the Telecoms and not for us ...

The "two sides" referenced there means the House Democratic leadership and the telecoms. Congressional leaders are "negotiating" with the telecoms -- the defendants in pending lawsuits -- regarding the best way for immunizing them from liability for their lawbreaking, no doubt with the help of the former Democratic members and staffers now being paid by the telecoms to speak to their former bosses and colleagues about what they should do. To describe the process is to illustrate its oozing, banana-republic-like corruption, but that's generally how our laws are written.

Steny Hoyer & Jay Rockefeller, your corruption is showing ...

Isn't there some way to get 'our representatives' to, you know, actually represent us? Whoever votes for ANYTHING that includes telecomm immunity should be socially ostracized forever and never ever allowed in political or public office again.

According to the ACLU, there is rumor of a backroom deal being brokered by Jay Rockefeller on FISA that will include retroactive immunity. I've heard from several sources that Steny Hoyer is doing the dirty work on the House side, and some say it will be attached to the new supplemental.

Why ...

... must we continually beg (lobby?) Reid to do the right thing? The right thing which he often does not do preferring to fall in line with a crooked, deceptive and lying administration.

The decision is Reid's--go with his Democratic caucus, or go with the administration.

Update II: I've heard a rumor that there will be an all Senate briefing with Director of National Intelligence Admiral McConnell, and Attorney General Mukasey tomorrow afternoon on FISA. This sounds like an all out offensive by the administration on protecting the telecoms.

Call your Senators and urge them to 1) lobby Reid to bring the Judiciary Committee's bill to the floor, and 2) tell them to oppose any bill that includes telecom anmnesty.

Big Surprise, Bush's Justice Department against net neutrality ...

The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the ''entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers,'' the agency said in its filing.

I think they have it backwards and I assume they know it. Lying as usual this administration is doing whatever it can to lock down the internet. If the Democrats in Congress don't come through then the 'free-wheeling' web will come under corporate control in no time.

And as the Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated they cannot be depended upon.

A Marketing Truism ...

It's cheaper to keep customers than get new ones.

How times change. The communication mafias think otherwise. Watch what you say and do or Ma Bell's replacements may cut you off with out a phone.

Sprint ditches customers who complain too much
Sprint Nextel Corp, which recently launched an advertising campaign to attract new customers, is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers for calling its customer service lines too often and making what the company called unreasonable requests.

Unreasonable requests? Mmmm, I guess they couldn't 'just say no?'

Because they lie ...

The term print media is used in the title. I think a more apt term would be the corporate media: Grimm Fairy Tales; Why are Print Media Dying? They Deserve to!

[ ... ]The newspaper industry scrambles as readership declines and as luck would have it I have made a study of why readership is on the wane. I have discovered a very simple answer, they don’t tell the truth! If I want fantasy I’ll read Harry Potter. Sometimes they’ll tell a little truth or part of the truth and sometimes just a flat out lie to keep from telling any part of the truth. It has reached the point to where even sports scores are to be questioned.

Last year the local paper printed a front-page story about the new 200 bed homeless shelter, it was a wonder, marvelous, a model to the world, praise be and laurels to all responsible. Only it neglected to mention that it was replacing a 500-bed shelter that was being closed down or that it was located in an industrial area making it more difficult for the homeless to reach. It was for all intents and purposes a camp, out of sight out of mind and when it comes to the subject of politicians out of mind is the operative part of the sentence.

This week Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich brought forward his articles of impeachment against the Vice President. Dennis Kucinich is a rarity in Ohio politics these days because he’s not under any indictments or tainted by scandals of any kind. Kucinich has stood against the war on his principles from day one his arguments have not changed one iota unlike the President’s. He stood against the Patriot act and warned before it’s passage that such far-reaching powers would surely lead to abuses. He thinks America needs a single payer healthcare plan.

He made these same arguments when the President’s popularity was in the 80% range even if you disagree with his positions the rarity of a politician standing up on principle alone should earn him some respect.

Here’s what that liberal bastion the New York Times said, “Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich undoubtedly would like to be one of the front-runners in the 2008 Democratic presidential nominating campaign, but being a distinct longshot does give him the luxury of saying whatever is on his mind.” Did I sleep through the convention? ......

Novelli's AARP censors left leaning posters ...

This post at the Senior Citizens Consortium Blog documents the problem with the increasing corporate control of message boards and other individual communications and posting mechanisms on the web. As these entitities merge there will be less and less freedom of expression and more thought control as with the established media.

Boycotting the AARP Issues and Elections forum

BuzzFlash entry that led me to the above post.

Note that the post explains that it is not AARP 'the non-profit entity' that is treating these individuals based their political viewpoints.

It should be clearly understood that the AARP itself does not operate the board, it has relegated that responsibility to its “for profit” subsidiary, AARP Services. This organization in turn has outsourced the operation of the AARP Forum to a company that has placed individuals who appear, to have a strong oriention against non-right wing posters.

It is AARP 'the for-profit' mindset that Arch-Republican Novelli brings to the AARP world that hands off the responsibilty, not to the AARP membership, but to some corporate organization. That's the Republican big-daddy approach that AARP embodies.